Snowe Supports FDA Authorization Bill, Continues Pledge to Ensure Safety, Affordability of Prescription Drugs
Press Release
Snowe Supports FDA Authorization Bill, Continues Pledge to Ensure Safety, Affordability of Prescription Drugs
U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME) today praised Senate passage of the FDA Revitalization Act (S.1082), which included two amendments she sponsored with Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND). The FDA bill, which passed the Senate Monday by a vote of 93-1, includes amendments to permit the importation of prescription drugs and to improve the secuity of all prescription drugs in the U.S. The FDA bill included the full provisions of the Dorgan-Snowe drug importation legislation (S.242), but will be restricted by the passage of a requirement that the Secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services "certifies" that imported drugs are both safe and affordable.
"The certification restriction placed on drug importation this week fails to take a single step to actually improve safety or affordability - two critical priorities already included in our bill," said Senator Snowe. "Certification is simply a roadblock intended to impede the ability of millions of Americans to import safe, effective and affordable prescription drugs. In fact, Senator Dorgan and I included over 31 landmark safety provisions in this legislation - to actually improve drug safety, rather than settle for the status quo."
Today the Senate adopted a second Dorgan-Snowe amendment (S.A. 1063) that will ensure that the added certification requirement will not block the implementation of many safety provisions, including the enhanced security of domestic and imported medications. The legislation will require that within 18 months every drug package in the U.S. will bear a unique identification in order to properly track, secure and authenticate medications.
In addition, the amendment mandates that after 6 months, the Federal Drug Administration will require that technologies are incorporated into every prescription drug package in the U.S. in order to reduce counterfeiting of prescription drugs. These technological features include those recently used on U.S. currency, which allow visual verification of authenticity.
"I am pleased to see that nearly 20 years after the Congress called for securing the domestic drug supply - including providing a domestic pedigree for drugs - we are at last taking proactive steps to actually ensure safety. The amendment which Senator Dorgan and I authored will improve drug labeling and we will at last see anti-counterfeiting technologies used to protect our domestic prescription drugs. This is a critical step forward in assuring Americans the safety and integrity of their medications."
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